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I am excited to share with you that yesterday - July 25th -- I officially filed to run for the Dunwoody City Council District Two seat, At Large. I hope to meet with you and as many other Dunwoody residents as possible in the months ahead as I work to serve on City Council, discussing with you ways of “putting Dunwoody first”, creating a better future for our entire community, giving all residents a voice on City issues.

Open Letter to Dunwoody City Council -- Invest in Trails

I've just sent the following to our Mayor & City Council regarding their 4-3 split decision (yes) on March 24th regarding their decision to purchase the adjacent land across the creek from Brook Run Park. The land would allow for a future trail that would connect to the Georgetown and the on-going Project Renaissance parks & development. Click HERE for the detailed documents as presented & voted upon by our City Council (Large download -- 45 MB).

The three "no"s are of concern. Hindsight being 20/20, I really think that at least two of the "no"s, according to their expressed reasons, should have delayed the vote, asked for more information & then voted yes. Come local elections in 2015 and we get in another "No", then we can just forget about our plans and investing in our future. Might as well start thinking about where you want to relocate. 'cause in 2016, they'll be voting on paving the rest of Mount Vernon -- and -- will have the CHOICE to add in to the budget to install bike lanes the rest of the way (just like it is today along Mt. Vernon west of Ashford-Dunwoody). The list goes on. Voting Yes: Heneghan, Thompson, Nall & DavisVoting No: Riticher, Deutsch & ShortalWould you like to see trails continue to be built in Dunwoody? Send an email to councilmembers@dunwoodyga.gov and ask for a reply with their commitment.AND -- please come to the City Council Meetings, sign up for Public Comments & let your voice be heard. It's just a couple of hours and it so important.

Hello All,

I have received replies or had
discussions (even briefly) with the three of you who voted no on the land
purchase to connect across the creek to Brook Run. And I appreciate that. However, it is the FUTURE that still
concerns me. And so I am sending this note and will be “rallying the troops”
around supporting continued investment in our trails, bike lanes and other
amenities in our community through the coming years. And they will be asking
for your commitment in voting YES on these projects. The faces of supporters can be widely seen for example on a Thursday night at Brook Run at the Food Trucks. Unlike one of our members of the Community Council espousing confrontation when it comes to Complete Streets & accommodating pedestrians & bicyclists, we’ll leave the
pitchforks & torches at home. I promise…

I know three of you voted --
for varying reasons – against spending 0.12% of our city budget ($30k) for the
purchase of the land to connect the Brook Run Trail with Georgetown
development. Yet when it comes to spending TEN percent of our budget on repaving
roads ($2.5M), there’s unanimous consent. Yes, I agree there were “concerns” of
spending another $30-60K in committed funds to do landscaping, signage &
fencing for the apartment owner. So then the whole transaction would run us
about 0.40% of our city budget ($100k).

Are you telling our major
corporations that you don’t want to invest in trails and follow our master
plans to enhance the quality of our lives and improve property values? All
because of an additional 0.3 percent of our annual budget?

Are you receiving some kind of
insider information that our hired consultants don't know about trails, best
practices and wetlands protections? If so, can you please share with us your
findings and cite your sources & references?

I’m not shy and don’t mind spreading
the word to the corporate world this information – regardless of the fact thatPCID
is
self-taxing themselves to BUILD their own internal trail system. You
think that State Farm & friends would like to have neighboring non-motorized
connectivity over to affordable housing in the Georgetown area? And that the
Millennials truly prefer having a CHOICE to ride a bike a few of miles to work
instead of sitting in stop & go traffic? Or even retirees when seeking a
place to settle? Or someone being told by their doctor they need to get out
& exercise?

We cannot solely build additional
motor vehicle capacity to accommodate the predicted growth in our area.
Providing alternatives at a fraction of the cost of building out new roads is
something we need to be doing. Just like the PCID is planning.

"Trails are responsible for a 4 to 7 percent increase in property
value for homes within one-quarter mile."

Here's a great post on the Silver Comet Trail and its
positive economic impact on adjacent towns and homes. LINK HERE

FUNDING in 2015In setting the budget for 2015, I look forward to allocating resources to build Phase III of the trail, connecting Brook Run
with Project Renaissance and for the Council to vote YES to fund its construction. I will be working within the community, building up strong broad-based community support for this action. We will ask for your continued support in fulfilling the vision of our citizens as expressed in our city's master plans.

Comments

"Overall we find that bicycling infrastructure creates the most jobs for a given level of spending: For each $1 million, the cycling projects in this study create a total of 11.4 jobs within the state where the project is located. Pedestrian-only projects create an average of about 10 jobs per $1 million and multi-use trails create nearly as many, at 9.6 jobs per $1 million. Infrastructure that combines road construction with pedestrian and bicycle facilities creates slightly fewer jobs for the same amount of spending, and road-only projects create the least, with a total of 7.8 jobs per $1 million."